IPL 2018, RR vs KKR: Hits and Misses

Put in to bat by Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals got off to a slow start as they made 9 in their first 3 overs. But Ajinkya Rahane took the attack to the KKR bowlers and helped the hosts finish the powerplay at 48 for 0. However, KKR came back well and restricted the hosts to 160. D’Arcy Short struggled initially but recovered well and top-scored with 44. But it was some tight bowling from KKR that kept RR down to 160.

In reply, KKR lost Chris Lynn for a duck. But Sunil Narine and Robin Uthappa steadied the ship with a 69-run stand before the former was run out. Uthappa continued to time the ball well but once again threw away a good start as he fell for 48. Nitish Rana and Dinesh Karthik polished off the chase with an unbeaten 61-run stand. This win also helped KKR climb to the top of the points table.

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#5 Hit: Krishnappa Gowtham

Krishnappa Gowtham was RR's best bowler today

Nobody would have expected Krishnappa Gowtham to be bought for a staggering sum of INR 6.2 crore. Rajasthan Royals paid a hefty sum for the Karnataka all-rounder. After not being used too much in the first couple of games, Gowtham took the big wicket of Brendon McCullum in the game against RCB.

Opening the bowling for the third consecutive time in this season, Gowtham gave RR the perfect start. He cleaned up the dangerous Chris Lynn to give the hosts an early breakthrough. He gave just one run in his first over before conceding 6 runs in his second over.

The 29-year-old off-spinner then came back for a spell in the middle-overs and was again very tight. He bowled a nice stump-to-stump line and didn’t allow the batsmen to get away. He then picked up his second wicket by dismissing Robin Uthappa and finished with figures of 2 for 23. Without a doubt, Gowtham was the pick of the RR bowlers.

#4 Miss: Sanju Samson

It was Samson's first single-digit score this season

Sanju Samson has carried the Rajasthan Royals’ batting line-up this season. Before this game, Samson had scored 178 runs in 3 innings, which included a magnificent unbeaten 92 (in 45 balls) against Royal Challengers Bangalore. He started slowly but was brilliant at the death as he hit the RCB bowlers all around the park.

In this game, RR were off to a good start with Ajinkya Rahane and D’Arcy Short adding 54 runs for the opening stand. Samson once again walked out to bat at No. 3. He started decently as he rotated the strike before finding a nice boundary. He got to 7 in 7 balls before he was out attempting a pull shot off Shivam Mavi.

Samson registered his first single-digit score of this IPL.

#3 Hit: Dinesh Karthik

Karthik looked in excellent touch in his 23-ball innings

Dinesh Karthik has looked a completely different player in the last few months. He has been hitting the ball really well and has donned the finisher’s role beautifully.

Karthik was appointed as the captain of KKR and it was always going to be interesting to see how he goes about things. He’s done really well so far after a few tactical blunders in the first few games. In this match, the Tamil Nadu wicket-keeper was excellent, both as captain and batsman.

On the field, he was proactive, making important field changes and shuffling the bowlers around. He used his resources excellently and one of his master-strokes has been giving Nitish Rana the ball (he Delhi player has taken 4 wickets in the 2 games he’s bowled). He was superb behind the stumps as well. His stumping to dismiss Ajinkya Rahane was simply superb.

And then with the bat, he calmly came in and scored an excellent 42 in 23 balls (2 fours and 2 sixes) to finish the chase. With 59 runs required in 45 balls, Karthik came in and started rotating the strike very well. He was very fluent throughout the innings. He had the tendency of throwing away his starts but here he took KKR home with a calm knock.

#2 Miss: Chris Lynn

Lynn was out for a golden duck

Chris Lynn has had a pretty disappointing tournament so far. After recovering from another shoulder injury, Lynn made a return to competitive cricket after 2 months when he played the first game this season.

He might have had scores of 22, 49 and 31 in the last three innings, but in each of those knocks, he looked quite scratchy. It was very unlike Lynn as he was struggling, especially against spin.

In this game, Lynn once again opened the batting. But he was dismissed for a second-ball duck by Krishnappa Gowtham. He looked to back away as Gowtham targeted the stumps with a shortish delivery. Lynn missed and the stumps were shattered, making it the third time that the hard-hitting Australian batsman was dismissed against spin in this season.

It was a night to forget for Lynn as he had also dropped a simple catch in the last over of the RR innings.

#1 Hit: Nitish Rana

Nitish Rana was once again superb with both bat and ball

Nitish Rana has been a revelation for KKR this season. If not with the bat, he delivers with the ball. His wickets of AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli off successive balls was one of the talking points of the first week. He has also been contributing with the bat consistently and has been getting starts. He scored a match-winning 59 in the last game against Delhi Daredevils.

In this game, RR got off to a good start and were 48 for 0 at the end of the powerplay. Searching for a wicket, Dinesh Karthik handed the ball to Rana and the move once again worked. Rana got Rahane stumped, thanks to some brilliance from Karthik. He then came back to dismiss the other opener, D’Arcy Short. The latter was cleaned up with a straighter delivery and he finished with figures of 2 for 11 in 2 overs.

With the bat, Rana came in to bat at 70 for 2 and looked quite calm in the middle. He struck a fluent 35 in 27 deliveries (2 fours and 1 six) and took KKR home. On the back of his all-round performance, he won his second consecutive Man of the Match.